Everyone would love to find a journal or diary of their ancestors. Some of you have, but…..Where’s yours?
Many people neglect recording their own history and that of their immediate family. Many do not have the time to start or know where to begin.
We know history is written by the victor, but it is the history…the story…of the common person that is most important. There are many untold stories that need preservation. It is important that these memories continue to live.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Library of Dust by David Maisel

Occasionally, I review non-fiction memoirs, but this is the first time I have written about a photographic book which tells nothing of the memories of its subjects, and little about their lives in general.

So, why is this a topic?

It is a story of lost lives; lost memories. It is part of life that is too often pushed aside and forgotten. It is a story that few wish to share, but everyone needs to face. For this reason, the story begs to be told so families will share the secrets hidden behind the doors, the forgotten family members.

Library of Dust by David Maisel, part 1

Dust: the deterioration of solid matter.

Dust to dust: the Biblical cycle of life.

The Library ofDust: canisters filled with dust, shelved as books, and hidden away for decades. Living dust that interacts with its vessel as if trying to escape…one last escape to freedom.

The Oregon State Hospital was established in 1883 in Salem to house mentally ill patients and the criminally insane. In 1913, the hospital’s cemetery made way for a new building, so the bodies were exhumed, cremated, and placed in copper canisters in an underground vault. This practice of cremation continued until 1971.

The hospital provided a “safe place” for relatives who no longer fit in the public’s world. It was a place for them to receive care; a place for them to be forgotten. This was a place for those individuals which time has tried to erase. But now their memory is brought back to the surface by one individual whose philosophy is to record “things that aren’t intended to be seen”*.

David Maisel, originally from New York City, but currently living in California, visited the State Hospital in 2005 and in 2009 to photograph various parts of the asylum, but especially the copper canisters which have been stored in an underground vault for decades, repeatedly flooded, and hidden from the world. When I first saw his work online, it was immediately clear that his background in design and structure transformed the misery of this institution into mesmerizing art.

Thousands of copper canisters that entombed cremated psychiatric inmates were exposed to continuous water damage resulting in an array of colors and patterns as the water corroded the copper shells. In his book Library of Dust (Chronicle Books, San Francisco), Mr. Maisel captures the eerie essence of the canisters, each one as individual as their human contents once were.

Maisel’s coffee-table-sized book contains four articles by noted scholars and fifty-four cremation canisters as well as many other photos highlighting various rooms of the hospital. These essays give us insight into the reasons so many colorful minerals corroded these canisters as well as our cultural views on death and cremation.

Geoff Manaugh, former senior editor at Dwell magazine, in his commentary “Mineral Kinship” states, “Indeed, the canisters have reacted with the human ashes held within.” He contends that “We, too, will alter, meld with the dust and metal; an efflorescence. This, then, is our family narrative, one not of loss but of reunion.”

The late Terry Toedtemeir, geologist, historian, and Portland (Oregon) Art Museum’s photography curator, in his contribution “The Soul Remains” discussed the various minerals appearing on the canisters and that although copper is known to be resistant to corrosion, multiple minerals have formed on these canisters presenting an array of colors. Toedtemeir states that “X-ray diffraction analysis has revealed that the particular corrosion product is a complex copper phosphate mineral known as sampleite,” a rare mineral found in arid regions, yet is appears on these water-logged canisters along with many other minerals. He further postulates that the make up of the water as well as the contents of the canisters could have affected the corrosion, but that this was a surprisingly short period of time for all these minerals to form.

Michael S. Roth, historian, curator and author, shares some background on the role of asylums in the United States and our cultural views of madness and death in “Graves of the Insane, Decorated,” a title taken from an 1886 Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon) news article about decorating the State Hospital’s cemetery on Memorial Day.

David Maisel writes the last contribution, entitled The Library and Its Self-Contained Double, where he recalls his photographic visits to the hospital. In 2009, he returned to find that the hospital and ended his book with one more shot, the new library of dust. In effort to preserve the existing, unclaimed canisters, have placed them in individual black plastic vaults row upon row, each with a metal plate number, now appearing more like a huge library card catalog, or in the least more modern shelves on which to place those lives. Sadly, each copper canister is also encased in a plastic bag with a baggie tie, and Mr. Maisel reports that condensation is developing inside the bags.

There is something very sad that the natural elements of the physical body and the earth’s minerals are now encased in man’s unnatural creation, plastic, which can have the lifespan of up to 600 years … so much for dust to dust.

About Me

Emily is available for Presentations regarding Writing Your Family Memories and Childhood Stories.
----- Learn to WRITE ABOUT YOUR CHILDHOOD AND FAMILY MEMORIES using a quick and simple technique. Learn various organizational ideas and writing tips. ------- BOOK FOR SALE on writing your memories at workshops or by mail (Spiral bound; 144 pages on heavy vellum; 130 topics with writing tips and organizational ideas).
Emily is also available to give presentations on Genetic Genealogy. See the following blog for more information: http://genealem-geneticgenealogy.blogspot.com/
--------- EMAIL for further details on either topic:
aulicino@hevanet.com

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Unsolicited Comments

Many thanks to all of you who have found success in writing your stories and were kind enough to comment.

Rhonda in Oregon writes:The writing tip you gave us Thursday is great! I went right to my stash of journals (I have trouble journaling, but love the books!), and made a page for every year since my birth year.I’m very excited to start writing my memories down. Thanks again for a fantastic tip!!

Anne in Michigan writes:"So many times I have sat down and tried to write out my life's story. I got so bored with myself that I never got more than a few pages done. This method has totally changed my outlook and has renewed my lifelong interest to write about my life so that my children will have something to remember me by.I am psyched, pumped and ready to go now!”

Beth in Texas writes:“I am finding the topics very helpful in writing about things I would have never thought about before. These topics give me an opportunity not to dwell on the unhappy times in my life, and remember some of the less important, but memorable topics that I'd like to pass on to my children. I'll still write about unhappy times, but they will be sprinkled in with other memories.”

Jan in Kentucky writes:“Emily, you do so very much for so many, and it is so appreciated! You also have broken my writing block, and I appreciate that...if not for you, I don't know that I would have had the heart to return to it. You truly are doing a lot of good with that list of yours and the effects will be known for years and generations for so many. I think sometimes we just need to tell you that.”

Bob in Sherwood writes:THANKS to you I started writing my "story" last Friday. If it wasn't for you I probably wouldn't have started it. It's all your fault...You, You, "Inspirator", You! Telling usto write in "pictures". If I started it prior to your presentation it would have begun... "I was born on October 29, 1944 in Jamestown, New York". Needless to say you had a GREAT impact on my writing.

Bill in New Jersey writes:Just a short note to say thanks to you, Emily, for the prompts. I especially like the way in which you write the suggestions to go along with the prompts.

Books About Childhood Memories and Family Stories

As most of you know, I seldom read fiction, and as a result, I am interested in books that are historical in nature and/or ones that tell the stories of people's lives. The following list is some books that I have read which are by people I know, people related to me, or people with whom I have corresponded for a time. Proudly, I have each author's autograph, and I'm beginning to think of this as a new collection/hobby!

Each of these stories have great struggles and challenges. Some are about the author's childhood while others are events when they were adults. I hope that you will find the stories as interesting as I have. They are truly a slice of our American Life!

Favorite Books on Childhood Memories and Family Stories

Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot by Bruce and Andrea Leininger, Grand Central Publishing, New York, 2009

Childhood Shadows: The Hidden Story of the Black Dahlia by Mary Pacios, Author House, 2007